With a baby arriving any day now (my wife is past her due date), I’ve been hesitant to do much meal planning. I don’t want to be in the hospital fretting about that whole chicken in the fridge.
As a result, I’ve been grocery shopping on a day-to-day basis. I have to say: it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. While shopping more frequently can mean more driving and gas consumption, I’m lucky that my grocery store is only a quarter-mile away (I often bike there).
Plus, there are some real benefits to shopping more often. You can really buy only what you need. If you know you’ll be back soon, there’s no reason to make speculative purchases you may not use.
Shopping daily enables you to find produce that’s perfectly ripe. There’s no gambling on whether an avocado will ripen in time (or at all). And plotting household banana demand against ripening speed is easier when you’re only planning for a day or two.
Finally, you can see what ingredients look the freshest or what you feel like eating that night and go from there. We usually don’t waste foods we’re really in the mood to eat.
On the downside, you can’t make anything that takes too much prep time and you might get sick of going to the store so often. In addition, it probably tales longer to plan one dinner every day than it does to plan five or seven at once.
This vaguely European method, what some call a “marketplace” approach, works best in urban settings where you can walk to the market. But many of us drive to get our food. That’s why you have to find the solution that works best for you. Consider where you live, your schedule and your food prep and consumption habits.
What shopping method works best for you? Any tips on how to reduce waste based on shopping strategy?
Comments
10 responses to “Shopping Day(s)”
I would go insane if I had to shop every day. Once a week with four kids is plenty for me, thank you very much!
And, by carefully planning and intentionally using food before it goes bad, I’ve been able to shop once a week while still managing to avoid food waste.
If I was childless and lived around the corner from a market, I might change my ways but for now, this is definitely best for me.
I hope the baby graces you with his presence soon!
When our kids were young we were like Kirsten@TheFrugalGal. But now that we are empty nesters, my husband and I typically shop nearly every day…usually to pick up fresh stuff. Sometimes we just need an extra box of chicken stock to extend a homemade soup, or a half gallon of milk, or a head of garlic. I pass the grocery store on the way to work every day so it rarely causes any extra driving. And we are able to check out daily specials, especially the table at the back where the produce manager puts out vegetables and fruit that are a little past their prime, but still completely edible (a 1/2 pound of shitake mushrooms for $1.00!!! or 6 limes for $.50). It’s also a nice way to see local friends; we always run into someone we know and it gives us a chance to catch up, however briefly.
Congratulations!
Now is the best time to start making freezer meals that can just be reheated. You may find yourself too busy or tired to prepare meals in the coming weeks.
As you mentioned, it depends on where I’m living. When I lived in a city, I would walk or bike to the grocery store or coop to pick up what I needed for one or two days at a time. While it was more costly, I could buy fresh items easily.
Living in the country I find that I try to pick out items for a whole week, and include produce that will keep for at least a week (cabbage, root vegetables, winter squash). I find that buying these types of items eliminates much of my waste. I use up the most perishable food first, then use the hardier items later.
Thanks guys. If I was smart, I’d be making freezer meals. Big ‘if.’
Dee Dee, I like checking the sale rack, too. It’s like a garage sale–you never know what treasures you might find.
I shop every two weeks. I used to go every week, but my two-year-old started becoming unbearable at the grocery store.
Sometimes food, especially produce that I forget about, goes to waste, but sometimes I have so much food that I can make it another several days to a week past the two weeks that I have planned, between meal cancellations due to leftovers or other similar things.
I try to do the same as Lisa, using more perishable items such as plums and tomatoes first, then moving on to good keepers such as apples.
Congratulations on the new baby! You don’t need the frozen meals really, just stuff like bananas & burritos you can eat one-handed.
When my son was little, and I didn’t have a paying job, we shopped *all the time*, mostly just to get out of the house but also to save money – I kept a food price notebook, and we hit at least two different stores every week.
Also, we did most of that shopping on foot – we’re close to a farmer’s market & a coop & an Aldi’s & a couple ethnic groceries, so it was simple (with my ridiculous giant stroller to haul stuff in – groceries, potting soil, whatever). After he got big enough to wear a helmet, we did it on the bike, with a burley trailer.
Now that I’m back in the full-time paid workforce, we try to keep it down to once a week – twice in the summer, when we go to the farmer’s marke too. We usually alternate – coop one week, big grocery store the next, and on shopping night we eat stuff just as it came from the store – bread, cheese, and fruit, usually.
Weekly shopping requires a lot of meal planning, but we’re doing OK on the food waste front mostly. My mom always used to shop once a month, but I’m not that organized yet.
I used to live right across the street from my coop and I probably went to the store twice a day. I treated it like a front-yard pantry. Those were the days.
Now, as a single gal living alone, I tend to go once a week for a big weekly shop and then stop in on my way home from work to replenish apples or pick up a can of tomatoes.
Though, on those pop-in-to-grab-one-thing trips I have to put the blinders on. Otherwise it turns into a big-shop, too.
Those of you that shop daily, how to do you avoid picking up too much pretty fruit or interesting bread or whatever other shiny things that usually derail me?
Jessica, here’s how I *try to* do it? You walk into the store repeating”Only bananas, only bananas…” (or other item).
It ain’t easy, but I always think to myself ‘They’re not gonna suck me into buying more items, no matter how far I have to walk to get to the milk.’ That geography, by the way, is such a blatant attempt to get us to spend more…
My method is an outgrowth of my definition of being a good cook. My definition is based on improv: someone who can make a decent meal with whatever he’s presented with. So I keep a lot of staples (including frozen chix breasts) and pantry food on hand, and buy whatever produce looks good. Then I figure out how to use it.
I have a handful of recipes/techniques that can absorb most produce that’s on its last legs: frittata (the trick is to cook and cool the additives in advance, and drain any excess liquid), chix stir fry, soup.
I’ve done this for so long I’ve almost all my ability to plan a week in advance. Which may be just as well, as having kids means I’ve also lost the ability to determine which nights I can cook. Instead I’m likely to make a couple big dishes over the weekend so we can safely graze: 2 lb meatloaf, a roast, whole chicken, pot of soup or beans.
While I’m running on at the fingers, here are some other compromises I’ve made, so as to spend time with my kid *and* cook. I use jarred chopped garlic; just be sure it’s jarred in oil and not water, oil keeps in the flavor but water lets it loose. I always have chopped onion on hand, even if means sometimes a half onion goes into the compost pile. I prep produce when I buy it (or as soon as practical after) rather than right when I want to use it. I usually have some sauteed veggies on hand for last-minute frittatas.
Good luck with your new adventure.